Still Alive!

This is going to be a super quick post. I just survived more than 12 hours of the first day of Soleil Bazaar! Wow! So many insights but I have to take a bath now and leave! So for now, here are some photos from yesterday :)




Oh so dainty! My daughter E and her Dainty Shop





My little corner of Soleil





Guess who came to visit? Our little Lucky! "Arms forward, raise!" That's his newest trick :)




Unshackled's first customer! Thanks B!! Mwah!!

Northern Exposure

I took a break from writing and doing my chains to meet up with some friends up North. Yes, the Alabang girl went all the way to Eastwood just to have lunch. You see one of my resolutions is to just go! Don't say no, just go! So off I went...





You know how some malls smell a tad musty on account of the recycled air? Well, you won't get that at the new Eastwood Mall. The corridors are fab and spacious and ... empty! While this may not be good news for the mall developers, it's a treat for visitors like me who just want to get out of the heat into some cool, airconditioned air.





This is outside this store that I like, Me and U. They've got all sorts of stuff in there that celebrate togetherness: his and hers stuff. I love their big, fluffy pillows and funky clocks (too bad I can't take pictures inside). I like Scribe as well. It's a shop that sells all sorts of pretty paper and stationery supplies.





We had lunch at Balducci. Nope, not outside but inside where it was cool and comfy. It was fun catching up with B and A.





I just love, love, love ravioli. It's one of those things that I like to order when I see it on the menu. Someone got a piece before I can take a picture. Wait, was that someone me? Mwahahaha





This chocolate treat is to die for. It's such a huge chunk of pleasure that though there were already three of us, we couldn't manage to finish it off. It was the perfect ending.

Chain Day!

Tomorrow is the day! Slept at 5 in the morning today. I am trying to make as many necklaces as I can because my friends B and A kind of freaked me out the other day. They told me that I should make more, more, more. And so I am trying to make more, more, more. We'll see :)

First Blood

Just the other day, I wrote about babyproofing so this post is horribly ironic. Well, life's like that, always full of surprises.

Yesterday, we were just hanging out in my room: Baby S, my daughter E, and my son K. We were talking about something I don't remember what when Baby S let out a big, fat cry followed by a loud scream from her mom. Accidentally, Baby S had slipped her hand inside the electric fan, and the blades caught her thumb. E hugged her tight, while screaming at me, "Mom, there's so much blood!" I grabbed a towel and started dabbing at Baby S's thumb to assess the damage. At first, I thought her finger had become all mangled up but fortunately, she only suffered minor cuts. I suppose she's just a bleeder like her mother.

I still remember when E bled through a number of towels so many years ago. I had just arrived home when E came to me crying. A playmate had accidentally pushed her, and her head hit the balustrade. Although I was about six or seven months pregnant then, I carried her to the bathroom and washed her head. There was so much blood but when I finally found the wound, it didn't look so bad. Of course, she had to have stitches, four if I remember right.

Baby S is fine and walking about. I think her mom and her uncles were more worried. The boys were hovering while I treated Baby S's cuts. Her mom had tears in her eyes. Surprisingly, I was calm throughout the whole episode. I had to be.

And guess what? After I treated her cuts, Baby S smiled and said, "Na na!" Her version of "No more!" Brave girl :)

Babyproofing

Ever since Baby S discovered the joys of mobility, she has been tottering all over the house. One minute she's in the living room, the next she'll be in my bedroom making a mess of my drawers, or the boys' room getting my son's eyeglass holder, or under the dining table surprising whoever it is eating there with a big, wide smile.

These days, you can often hear me say, "Nasaan si S?!" ("Where is S?!") The minute she is out of my sight, alarm bells start ringing in my ear. She might be the fifth kid to grow under my watch but I still get panic attacks once in a while, although they're milder now.

But as every mother knows, accidents will happen. And while no one was looking (Disclaimer: I was not at home, so technically I do not have anything to do with what happened next), Baby S slammed her one teeny tiny finger in a closet door. She cried out, really loud, I am told. And yes, the teeny tiny nail got all black and bruised and eventually died. Ouch!

So her mom E went on a babyproofing shopping spree buying all sorts of stuff for table corners, electrical sockets, and closet drawers; and installing them pronto. So far, Baby S has managed to take out all those things. The table corner thingies have left glue marks on our table corners. And the socket covers? Well, they are just gone.

I am seriously thinking of buying Baby S a helmet and knee pads but I'm pretty sure she'll just take those off as well. Babies!

P.S. Hop on over to Simply Modern Mom. She's got this Education Week going on in line with the Winter Olympics, and I wrote stuff about the Philippines. :)

It's Just Too Hot!

The past few days have just been too hot! Too hot to write, too hot to stand, too hot to move. I now lead a sort of vampire half-life, writing at night, waking before noon, and then trying my best not to take a nap mid-afternoon because it is just too damn hot! Welcome to the Philippines!

But anyway, things must be done, breakfast cooked (Yes, I managed to cook a breakfast of champorado then went promptly back to bed), lunch prepared, and then in the afternoon, my daughter E and I had our own little photo shoot for our upcoming bazaar.




When E saw this photo, she immediately said, "I love my hair." Mwahahaha It is the necklace that's the star, dear, not your hair.





Here's the same necklace worn another way. And OK, it wasn't as hot as the photograph implies. I just experimented with the exposure on picnik. I love picnik!

Girlfriends

I am very fortunate to have high school girlfriends who never gave up on me. I was very young when I started having babies, and the experience so overwhelmed me that for a time I virtually disappeared from the face of this earth. I was still working, sure, but I didn't have time for anything else. My schedule went this way: home, work, home, work. It was tough. I was living in another city away from my parents. And because we didn't have any household help, I still did some chores once I got home; this is on top of looking after the baby. Needless to say, I didn't get to see much of my girlfriends.

Now I don't exactly remember how I got re-acquainted with my high school girlfriends (four babies + general anesthesia = selective amnesia) but once I started going out with them again, it was as if I was never gone. And they never asked me about my MIA status. They just waited for me to tell my story, which I did in my own time. In many ways, it felt like coming home.

Tonight we celebrated P's birthday. And just like the old days, we were laughing and talking and laughing. And just like the old days, we talked about boys, only this time instead of our crushes, we talked about our own boys: our sons.

Happy birthday, P! I love you girls! :)

Unshackled!

So OK, it's not exactly crunch time but the bazaar is only ten days away and I am in a mild state of panic. One, because I still don't have everything made (e.g. my harness chain necklaces). Two, because this is the first time that I would actually be participating in a bazaar. When I was a teenager, my mom had a stall in Baclaran where she sold ready to wear clothes. I would help her out at times but I was never the front man, she was always the star. She is a super salesperson, something that I have never been good at.

But the thing is, I am enjoying doing these necklaces. I've always been a crafty type of person. Doing stuff with my hands, it comes easy to me. I have done decoupaged items and folder collages, paper cutouts and hand-painted boxes, all sorts of stuff. For months now, I've wanted to channel my crafty side but have never found the right medium. And I was pleasantly surprised when I had fun working with chains.

Fortunately, my sister B called and calmed me down. B makes beautiful wire bracelets and I just love, love, love them. She is an excellent craftsman. She asked, "Are you happy with what you're doing?" I answered yes. And she said, "Then that's all that matters." And she is absolutely right.

Wish me luck! :)

P.S. I have decided to call my line of chain necklaces, Unshackled!

Field Trip

One of the nice things about being a full-time freelancer is that you'll never know where your next assignment will take you. Every day is an adventure it seems. Here, some of my impromptu field trips:




An appointment in Manila brought me to the University of Santo Tomas campus, one of the oldest universities in the country. I had a nice time just walking around, admiring the architecture. I miss going to school, going through my reading list, making reports, studying for quizzes. Heaven! (Yes, I am a bit of a nerd, I know)





On the way home, I passed by Quiapo: went to church first and then did some shopping. I love it that you can find just about everything here. When we still lived in Manila, I used to go to Quiapo all the time. I would buy veggies, lots of them. Now, it's a treat.





A couple of days later, I am in a merry-go-round in Alabang. There's actually a shoot going on at the other end of the park; we just took some time off to we have a little shoot of our own.





Hanging out at Red Mango in Greenbelt. This is now my favorite place. Whenever I find myself with some time in Makati, I hang around at this yogurt place. Not only do I love their stuff, I love their space with all these windows and all these teeners hanging around, giving off such refreshing energy!


And now, more of the Gorgeous Award



Part of getting this award is giving it away, so I'd like to give this Gorgeous Award to these gorgeous bloggers:

1 I am a crafty person and just love, love, love the ideas at Small Burst of Everything
2 Nadezhda is a blogger from Ukraine, and I love it that I can learn about how life is halfway across the globe just by reading about her everyday adventures.
3 Animetric has been a big help to me. Ro has been so supportive of me going into blogging and has always answered all my questions.
4 I like Dalia's format at The Generation X Mom. She takes a current topic, talks about it a bit, and then poses a question that gets you thinking. Love it!
5 And because I am now a grandma, I can also relate to Grandma's Briefs...
6 ... while still getting what Going Peanuts is talking about.

Love you ladies! :)

Gorgeous!

Between preparing for our bazaar at the end of the month and meeting several deadlines, I can hardly keep up with my posting. Last week, I reached the 100 follower-mark and I am just so very happy. For the past few weeks, I've met so many wonderful moms through the blogosphere. And just by going through their blogs and reading about their everyday lives, I've learned so much. And I am still learning.

And then, from out of the blue, my friend Susan Fobes gave me the Gorgeous Blogger Award; she said my blog makes her laugh, and I am so happy for that. As moms, we already have too much drama in our lives every day, getting a laugh is always welcome. Thanks Susan!

As recipient of the Gorgeous Award, I am supposed to list down six things that you may not still know about me. Because I am such a movie buff, I thought I'd list down my favorite "mood" movies. Here we go:

1 When I want to feel a bit weepy, I plug in "The Painted Veil." Edward Norton dies, isn't that depressing?





2 On weekends when I'm cooking pasta and the kids are playing their games, I usually have Ripley shooting rounds and rounds on the Mother of All Aliens. Sigourney Weaver is just so tough here! "Get away from her, you bitch"






3 When I'm very stressed out, I like watching Fog Of War. Here, former US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara talks about the moral complexities of war. Honestly, I don't know why I like watching this when I'm stressed; maybe because it allows me to put my personal dilemmas in perspective?





4 When I want to believe ...




5 When I want to swoon ...





6 And here's my last movie confession, I cannot wait to see this (I love Bea and John Lloyd!!!)

One

Exactly one year ago ....

At around nine in the morning, I woke up to the news that my daughter E, who was scheduled to give birth at the end of the month, was experiencing contractions. Since the contractions weren't coming one after the other yet, I was not at all panicked. After all, when I gave birth to her, my firstborn, I had to go through a full day of labor. The hospital actually asked me to go home the first time I went because I wasn't dilated. Besides, it was Valentine's Day, which is absolutely one of the tackiest days in the calendar to celebrate a birthday. Surely, my granddaughter would not be born on Valentine's Day, I thought.

But after just half an hour, the overeager parents of the father of my granddaughter had arrived and they wanted to go to the hospital already. Apparently, my daughter had called her Ob-Gyne and she was advised to check in at the hospital right away. My daughter was only 18 at the time, and our doctor didn't want to take any chances.

In my wildest dreams, I never imagined that I would be at this stage of life this early. At the time, I was only 41, too young to have a grandchild. I thought that I would marry off my daughter first before getting to see yet another bundle of joy. But things don't always work out the way you thought they would.

And true enough, despite our pleas for E not to give birth on Valentine's day (please, please pretty please), she did. Before evening, she gave birth to Baby S.

Today, Baby S turned a year old. And she has brought untold joy into our lives. Sometimes things don't always work out the way you thought they would; sometimes they actually turn out better.

Happy birthday Baby S!

And happy Valentine's day too!

A Baby's Hard Work

I am writing this at a Starbucks. The Internet has been out since last night, and I thought I could do some work in my other office. There are all sorts of people here; a bunch of Koreans behind me, some teeners in front, a couple of couples out back. Baby S is also here, walking around the gray carpeting, smiling at each and every coffee drinker she encounters. And I am exhausted.

You see, before we finally got to Starbucks, I had to accompany my daughter E and Baby S with their errands. E had to buy a pair of gloves, some rechargeable batteries, and all sorts of baby-proofing stuff. I was game at first, but all this walking and carrying baby around is kinda tiring. And before we knew it, Baby S had pooed on her diaper, so we rushed to the bathroom before the store reeked of stinking poo. And so, there we were, cramped inside a little stall with me holding Baby S and E wiping away the stinking poo, while Baby S was actually, laughing. Before we finally got Baby S into clean diapers, I was sweating like crazy (and I bet that I didn't smell so nice either).

Taking care of a baby's hard work, and I'm glad I had mine when I was younger and stronger.

Okay, Baby S is getting cranky, have to go!

Not Giving In ... Yet!

For days and days now, I have been stopping myself from doing something that I really, really love. I've been hemming and hawing, and then hemming again because once I start, I know that I cannot stop.

A few weeks ago, we installed a new game in one of the computers; it's actually not a new game, it's an old game that I am definitely familiar with: SIMS! Yes, boys and girls, I was a SIMS addict. I used to devote hours and hours and hours of my life trying to make sure my characters (yes, I have several) eat properly, get enough sleep, and are happy. I first got into it because I wanted to know what my kids were playing. But before long, I was logging more hours on SIMS than they were (Ah, the benefits of being the "adult").

I was so fascinated with the game that I even wrote an essay about it in a now defunct magazine title, at least in our country, GamesMaster (*sigh*). I loved the game, I wrote, because unlike real life, everything was so clean in SIMS city: no heartaches, no headaches, no stress, no worries.

I would have gone on playing and playing but, lo and behold, our computer crashed, deleting everything that I've worked on. By then, I was too tired to recreate everything so I just let it go.

And now, here I am again.

Mobile Baby

Baby S is mobile and you know what that means. It means that there is an itsy-bitsy person walking barefoot all over our dirty floor. At first, she was taking one, two, three steps. But once she went up to four, there was no stopping her. She didn't want to be carried anymore. She had to walk ... to everywhere.

When Baby S started crawling, I would take her to my room and let her wander. Inevitably, she would crawl towards my bookshelf and started pulling out my books and magazines. When she learned to lift herself up to a standing position, she started pulling out my bracelets from out of their boxes. Today, she walked into my room, got my blush, and then walked out. My, oh, my!

The other day, Baby S walked towards her Mom and grabbed her red bag (which is mine, by the way). With one hand on her Mom's bag and another on the sofa, Baby S put one foot on her Mom's flip-flops. She tried wearing it but of course, it was too big for her. Finally, she gave up and just walked away with her Mom's bag. I wonder where she's going?

Boys Who Might As Well Be Flowers

For the past few days, the house has been filled with the unmistakable sound of Koreans talking. No, we are not participating in a Korean exchange student program, nor do we have any Korean relatives. No, my daughter E has decided to join the Koreanovela bandwagon, watching episode upon episode of Boys Over Flowers.

While I have heard of this Koreanovela, I really did not have any intention of immersing myself in it. But when it's on for a couple of hours a day, and your daughter and son are talking about it, and your other son is humming the show's theme song, well, I had no choice!

As far as I can tell (you see, I was writing while watching and since you had to be reading the English subtitles to be able to understand things, I ended up not really getting everything), it's about four rich boys, two of whom like the same girl, who may be poor but has lots of personality. After watching a couple of episodes, I got to understand why a lot of teenaged girls fell in love with the show: the boys are really cute, and they are immaculately dressed, and they drive cool sports cars! And the hair! Goodness, the hair! I love Ji Hoo's hair, it's so perfectly styled. I wonder how much time he had to spend in front of the mirror every day.

As for the girls, sad to say that they are not as beautiful as the boys. Spunky, true; gorgeous, no. It's just not fair!

P.S. When I saw one of the boy characters wearing stud earrings, I panicked, again! And so, I gathered my three boys and asked them, "Do you like earrings? Do you want to have your ears pierced?" All of them said no. Yipee!

Prom Night

Okay, now I remember why I had my hair curled; it was for prom night. Stupid girl that I was, I decided to get a major hairstyle change on the very day of the prom. So yes, I went to prom with curly hair that I didn't know how to style in a frilly pink dress. I am so glad that I wasn't able to save any of the pictures.

I'm remembering all this because yesterday, my son F went to his prom. It was another boy-filled Saturday. In the morning, my son S's friends were here, four gangly boys in shorts and basketball shirts. In the evening, my son F's friends were here, three teenagers decked out in their finest: suits, perfumes, hair products, the works. When I saw that one of them had pearl stud earrings, I momentarily freaked out. (Oh gosh, please don't let any one of my sons ask me to have their ears pierced!)

Anyway, F looked great. He wore a vest over his long-sleeved shirt, a fashion tip I got after Googling the Jonas Brothers. His hair was slicked back, styled by my daughter E. And for a precious few minutes, my daughter and I were in a quandary about how to fold his sleeves. In typical Jonas Brothers style, the folds have to look kinda random but in a subtly styled way. Of course, F didn't care about his sleeves. He wanted to party already. And so, off he went leaving me behind to worry about where he'll actually go after the prom, whether he'll end up puffing a cigarette "just to try it out," and what time he'd come home; the very same concerns I'm sure my parents had so many, many years ago. Karma sucks!




Prom night, my time :)

Playing Hooky

Okay, I am in the middle of deadlines. I have stuff to transcribe, stuff to edit, and stuff to write; and I have to do everything in the next 24 hours. Exciting! But instead of going into machine mode, here I am playing hooky, listening to music. I blame my sister M. She sent me links to this cool group and now, I am just going through all their videos on YouTube. Oh well, I guess I'm not sleeping tonight.

What's with the excitement? Well, you know how it is: You get old and you find yourself listening to the same music over and over again. That's because it's harder for you to find music that you want to listen to. I don't know, I suppose we sort of get stuck to the music we liked when we were teenagers, when we were young and bright and carefree. I suppose music is one way of reliving those moments.

Well, I don't want to get stuck. And now that I have more time, I want to discover new music for all the new memories that I'm making. And if you've got a new discovery of your own, please do share it with me :)

Crunch Time

So there I was squatting, my ass hanging behind me while my hands gripped the barre, praying that nobody starts taking photographs. When Darcy, our instructor, told us to stand, or rather squat, on our toes, I silently started freaking out. Did she just say tippy toes? Am I really supposed to stand on my toes while squatting? Before long, my knees were starting to wobble, and yes, I could feel it! Welcome to barre3, the newest workout trend, which combines elements of yoga, ballet, and Pilates.

Once upon a time, I was "sporty." I would run and swim and do aerobics. But once the kids started coming, all thoughts of fitness flew out the window. I couldn't imagine running when I barely had enough time to sleep. When the kids grew bigger, I thought I'd get started on getting fit but I never did. So when The Spa invited bloggers to a session of barre3, I had all sorts of reservations. For starters, I haven't been anywhere near a gym in ages and I haven't donned sweats in years. But I was curious, and that's how I found myself on my tippy toes.

And guess what? I ended up loving the session. Sure my legs hurt and I let go of the two-pound dumbbells halfway through the workout but it was exhilarating to be sweating and crunching without having to bounce around the room like crazy. As to whether I'll get going on the fitness thing, well, no promises!

Making like a ballet dancer

On my back, the view

After the session, taking a break

Hanging out with Fran

A Hair Story

My daughter has this thing about her hair. I have straight, black hair that's totally wash and wear. I never had problems with it, except that one time when I decided to have it curled for reasons that now escape me. My daughter, on the other hand, has curly, unruly, always on the verge of a flyaway kind of hair, which of course, she blames on me. "Why didn't I get your hair, Mom?!" She would always complain. And I, quoting from the Queen of Quotable Quotes herself Janice de Belen, would answer, "Because you are not all from me."

Not having such hair myself, I admit that I sometimes cannot relate. And truly, sometimes I find her concerns frivolous. But when a bunch of her grade school classmates teased her about her crowning glory looking like a volcano, I wanted to go to her school and slap all those kids silly.

And E has tried everything to tame her tassels. She's bought all sorts of hair products, subjected it to all sorts of treatments, whatever. The unruly curls keep coming back. I told her once to just embrace it, but then she really doesn't know how to style it. And in that department, I am no help at all. I don't even know how to blowdry my hair; in fact, I don't have a blow dryer. Recently, she had her hair straightened at a respectable place, and it seems that the treatment is holding. And she is happy. Her hair is now short and straight. And guess what? She looks a lot like me. Mwahahahaha

Happy Ten

Today was a happy day. I went on a little excursion to Manila and it was just so refreshing not to be thinking about what I'm supposed to be doing next. Don't get me wrong; I have tons of things to do: I need to make several stories, a couple of proposals, and some necklaces. But since I want to ride this happy-happy-joy-joy wave for as long as I can, I am giving in to this meme from my blogger friend Susan (susanchapmanfobes.blogspot.com). And so, here it is, ten things that make me happy right now, in no particular order.

1 Catching up with my sister M. M is in Canada and we finally caught up in Facebook
this morning. It was fun trading stories with her, and our exciting chat
set the tone for the rest of my day.

2 Last November, my mom got herself a gift: this really gargantuan-looking swing, and
since then, it's become a family favorite. I could already tell that our family is going to make
a lot of happy memories in this swing, just as we did with that six-seater narra table,
which became the setting for countless memorable dinners.

3 I love walking through museums, something that I should be doing more of,
and will do more of this year. I promise!

4 Georgia O'Keefe: Her works spoke to me the minute I saw them,
and I've been in love with her flowers ever since.

5 Hanging out in some anonymous place with a good book.

5 Gorging on junk when it's crunch time. Yes, I have been known to munch on
bars and bars of chocolates when a deadline's looming. Yummy happy!

6 A bottle of beer and grilled anything: the best!

7 Okay, confession time: In another lifetime, I wanted to be an architect. I used to draw
these floor plans of houses. Perhaps that's why I love looking at buildings.
I love the shape of this one, like waves weaving up to heaven.

8 Eating at my parents'. There's something about my mom and dad's cooking
that always makes me feel good.

9 I was home early today, and it really felt good. I was able to make dinner,
made plans about what my son F was going to wear for his prom, forced my kids to
watch some sappy movie with me, and played with baby S. I love it!


10 Up Dharma Down. Just listen and you'll know why I love them so much :)